A Buford man was sentenced Thursday, March 10, on a charge related to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol building.
U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich sentenced Verden Andrew Nalley to two years of probation and ordered him to complete 60 hours of community service. Nalley was also ordered to pay $500 in restitution.
Nalley pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge that he illegally entered the Capitol. He faced up to six months in prison and a fine between $500 to $9,500. Friedrich was lenient, however, agreeing with Nalley’s defense attorney’s assertion that Nalley has been caught up in mob mentality and had not been charged with assaulting police or damaging property.
“It does seem that he was swept up in the events of that day,” Friedrich said. “He did not come to Washington with gear or weapons.”
Following the Capitol riots, Nalley posted on social media about his part in the events.
“The capital (sic) take over was planned I was there,” a post by Nalley on social media site MeWe.com read. “We took it with no weapons and we will be back with guns in two weeks if that’s not fixed.”
Nalley was initially charged as a co-defendant with south Georgia attorney William McCall Calhoun Jr.
“We physically took control of the Capitol Building in a hand to hand hostile takeover,” Calhoun wrote, according to an FBI affidavit. “I was there and saw it all. My buddy Andy Nalley and I were in the first two hundred to rush up the steps and inside after the Vanguard had clashed hard with the police and made them retreat.”
Prosecutors in the case had requested Nalley be sentenced to 14 days in prison as part of his guilty plea agreement, saying his social media posts following the riots showed a lack of remorse.
During sentencing, Nalley told the judge he acknowledged his “huge mistake.
“I just want to move on,” he said.
FEATURED PHOTO: Protesters are seen on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Photo by Lev Radin/courtesy of Shutterstock.com.
